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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Asian markets fall, Kospi down 7% amid Bank of Korea rate hike

 

MUMBAI--0732 IST-—Asian markets opened lower as a sell-off in US chipmakers affected regional stocks. South Korea's Kospi fell sharply due to SK Hynix's volatility after its US listing last week. South Korea's Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first ‌time in three and a half years to 2.75% from 2.50%. Bank of Korea has raised its seven-day repurchase rate by 25 basis points, as estimated by all but one of 37 economists surveyed in a Reuters poll.

 

South Korea's Kospi fell 6.7% as shares of index heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 11% and 7%, respectively. Shares of Seoul Semiconductor, LG Innotek, and Samsung SDI fell between 1% and 5%. Japan's Nikkei opened 3% lower. Japan's Advantest fell more than 6% while SoftBank Group fell nearly 7%. Among other stocks, Tokyo Electron fell over 5% and Renesas Electronics fell 4%. Overnight, Micron Technology, Intel, Lam Research, and Advanced Micro Devices fell between 3% and 8% in the US.  

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng opened 1.6% higher and was the best performer. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was slightly down. 

 

Following are the levels of key indices in the region at 0732 IST:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
Nikkei 225 Day	66562.18	(-)3.2
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	4048.2	(-)0.98
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8821.5	(-)0.2
KOSPI Index	6799.84	(-)6.7
Hang Seng Index	25064.61	1.6
CSI 300 Index	4740.56	(-)0.97
FTSE Singapore Strait Times	5543.23	(-)0.3

 

(Deesha Jadhav)

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Equity Alert: US mkts up due to better-than-expected PPI, higher earnings 

 

MUMBAI--0658 IST--US indices closed higher Wednesday as a better-than-expected US Producer Price Index lifted sentiment and gave relief that the Federal Reserve will not raise key interest rates. Major financial firms reported strong earnings for the June quarter, which gave investors comfort that growth sustained despite easing inflation. Lower Treasury yields boosted demand for mega-cap technology companies. 

 

In order for the market to broaden, rates need to either move sideways or decline, CNBC quoted Michael Kantrowitz, chief investment strategist and head of portfolio strategy at Piper Sandler, as saying. "The best backdrop for the equity market in today's regime would be employment that stays more or less sluggish because I think that can help keep a lid on interest rates and prevent any rate hikes."

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed slightly higher Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite closed marginally higher. The PHLX semiconductor sector index fell 3% and was pulled lower by falls in Micron Technology, Marvell Technology, Intel Corporation, and Advanced Micro Devices. Mega-cap companies Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Amazon.com all traded 3% or more higher.

 

Investors await retail sales and jobless claims data on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group and Netflix are both scheduled to report their results.

 

Following were the closing levels of major US indices on Wednesday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	52658.64	0.3
NASDAQ Composite	26269.23	0.6
S&P 500	7572.4	0.4

 

(Deesha Jadhav)

 

US$1 = INR 96.26

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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